Jalan berbeza tapi piawaian keselamatan jangan berlainan

Malaysia stands out for its safety standards on roadways. We have engineering manuals, design guidelines, road safety audits, and a professional workforce experienced in the field. However, the question remains whether every Malaysian citizen receives the same minimum protection for road safety, regardless of who manages a particular road.

A motorcyclist is no less exposed to risk when switching from a federal highway to a state road. Parents sending children to school should not need to know if the road outside their child's school is managed by the Federal Road Department (JKR), a state government, or a local authority. Even retirees wishing to use public buses should not have to know which authority manages the road crossing in front of them.

For users, all this is part of the national road system. Yet, our roads are designed, planned, and managed by various levels of government. Federal highways, state roads, expressways, and local roads have different functions, responsibilities, and funding methods. This distinction is indeed valid. Expressways cannot be designed like residential neighborhood roads.

District roads have different needs compared to busy downtown streets. Rural roads cannot use the same design as major roads in Kuala Lumpur. I am not suggesting that all roads in Malaysia should look the same. The question is whether every road needs to meet one minimum safety standard agreed upon collectively? Malaysia has already set a goal through the Road Safety Management Plan 2022-2030, which aims to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030, with safer infrastructure as one of its key elements.

The goal is clear. The challenge is ensuring the entire road system helps achieve that target. When serious accidents occur, we often wonder if drivers were too fast, motorcyclists were reckless, or authorities were insufficient. However, it should not be the only concern. Did the road cater to the actual speeds of vehicles using it?

Can the general public cross safely? Are motorcyclists' needs adequately considered? Are intersections designed to minimize dangerous collisions? Are roads well-maintained? Are developments around roads changing how people use them? And when human error is a common mistake, can road design prevent it from leading to serious injury or death?

This is the thinking behind the Safe System approach. Humans will make mistakes. Roads should be designed so that mistakes do not easily turn into fatalities. This approach is crucial for Malaysia because motorcycles are part of daily Malaysian mobility. Any road safety work that does not consider motorcyclists from the start will struggle to accurately reflect reality on our roads.

The same applies to pedestrians, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, motorcyclists, and those walking to and from public transport. Therefore, road safety cannot be measured solely by the performance of vehicles. It also needs to consider how well someone can ride a motorcycle to work, walk to school, cross the road, or reach a bus stop safely.

What we find is that the challenge for Malaysia is not the lack of technical guidelines. We already have comprehensive engineering and planning standards. The question is whether implementation of these standards in federal, state, and local roads ultimately provides the same minimum level of protection. We are not saying the current system is failing.

Rather, what is needed is to strengthen what we already have. The Road Safety Audit guideline of JKR itself acknowledges the importance of greater consistency in the management and implementation of road safety audits by different authorities. The condition of road networks is always changing. A road originally built primarily to move traffic may eventually be surrounded by houses, shops, schools, factories, and bus stops.

More people will walk and cross the road. More vehicles will enter and exit premises adjacent to the road. Motorcyclist traffic may also increase. The classification of roads may remain the same, but how people use them has changed. Road classifications may stay the same, but how people use them has changed. Road classifications may stay the same, but how people use them has changed.

Road designs must be able to adapt to these changes. That is why Malaysia needs to start discussing a minimum road safety standard at the national level. The principle is simple: roads are different, with different functions, local conditions, but a minimum common level of safety. School zones should have a minimum safety standard approved, whether they are located on federal, state, or local roads.

Accessibility for pedestrians should take into account the actual speeds of vehicles and the specific risk level of the road in question. Safety for motorcycle riders should be considered in the design of barriers, road surfaces, intersections, and other areas where traffic conflicts are likely. Road audits should identify serious risks and ensure they are handled appropriately.

The assessment of roads should also continue as traffic patterns, development, and the surrounding community change. This does not mean the JKR standards should be replaced or that decision-making power should be taken from state governments and local authorities. It also should not be a centralized implementation by the federal government.